Assimilation or Integration?

Is the United States a

“melting pot” or a
“salad bowl”?

Fill him in with American, traits, values, ideas

and culture…
Melting Pot
The melting pot is an analogy for
the way in which homogeneous
societies develop, in which the
ingredients in the pot (people of
different cultures, races and religions)
are combined so as to develop a
multi-ethnic society.
J. Hector St. John de Crevecouer
(1782) – “Letters from an American
Farmer”
“leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices
and manners, receives new ones from the new
mode of life he has embraced, the government
he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He
becomes an American by being received in the
broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here
individuals of all nations are melted into a new
race of men, whose labors and posterity will
one day cause great changes in the world."
Cultural Assimilation
when an individual or individuals
adopts aspects of the characteristics
of a dominant culture (such as its
religion, language, manners etc.). It
sometimes is the result of cultural
imperialism or forced assimilation but
it can be and often is voluntary.
Three Models of Assimilation
1. “Straight-line” or Convergence
Model
2. Racial/Ethnic Disadvantage Model
3. Segmented Assimilation Model
“Straight-line” or Convergence
Model
This theory sees immigrants becoming
more similar over time in norms, values,
behaviors, and characteristics. This theory
also expects those immigrants residing the
longest in the host population, as well as
the members of later generations, to show
greater similarities with the majority group
than immigrants who have spent less time
in the host society.
Racial/Ethnic Disadvantage
Model
The second, racial/ethnic
disadvantage model states that
immigrant's chances to assimilate are
"blocked". An example of this model
would be discrimination and
institutional barriers to employment
and other opportunities.
Segmented Assimilation
Model
The third, the segmented assimilation model
theorizes that structural barriers, such as poor
urban schools, cut off access to employment and
other opportunities — obstacles that often are
particularly severe in the case of the most
disadvantaged members of immigrant groups,
and such impediments can lead to stagnant or
downward mobility, even as the children of other
immigrants follow divergent paths toward classic
straight-line assimilation.
Four Ways to Measure
Assimilation
1. Socioeconomic Status
2. Spatial Concentration
3. Language Attainment
4. Intermarriage
Socioeconomic Status
is defined by educational attainment,
occupation, and income. By
measuring socioeconomic status
researchers want to find out if
immigrants eventually catch up to
native-born people in terms of
human capital characteristics.
Spatial Concentration
is defined by geography or residential
patterns. The spatial residential
model states that increasing
socioeconomic attainment, longer
residence in the U.S, and higher
generational status lead to
decreasing residential concentration
for a particular ethnic group.
Language Attainment
is defined as the ability to speak
English and the loss of the individual's
mother tongue.The three-generation
model of language assimilation states
that the first generation makes some
progress in language assimilation but
remains dominant in their
native tongue, the second generation
is bilingual, and the third-generation
only speaks English
Intermarriage
is defined by race or ethnicity and
occasionally by generation. High rates
of intermarriage are considered to be
an indication of social integration
because it reveals intimate and
profound relations between people of
different groups, intermarriage
reduces the ability of
Melting Pot or Salad Bowl

Are we melting
into one?

Or are we still
separate?
Integrate?
E Pluribus Unum

“From Many, One”